


The Stained Glass Goddess

by WithPatienceComesPeace



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Drama, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Intrigue, Mentioned War Crimes, Mystery, POV Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Truth, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27922216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithPatienceComesPeace/pseuds/WithPatienceComesPeace
Summary: Coping with a dark truth about the Tragedy, Dimitri seeks solace in the Cathedral. He finds someone there, but it’s not the Goddess.An excerpt fromThe Lion and the Lotus.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Seteth
Kudos: 8
Collections: Excerpts from The Lion and The Lotus





	The Stained Glass Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> A preview of the dark Dimitri that stars in [The Lion and the Lotus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672283/chapters/67717684).

**Garreg Mach, Officer’s Academy**

A few days before Student Orientation…

_“The truth doesn’t matter, Prince Dimitri. Prove me otherwise!”_

* * *

When Dimitri first saw the Goddess in the Cathedral, captured in glass, he almost laughed. There was a stained glass depiction of her upon the vaulted ceilings, a winged depiction of enormous size. Lit by the full moon above her, with a tender look on her face, she was at once powerful, haunting and beautiful. This was supposed to be the best the world could do to provide a mortal glimpse of the Goddess…

Which is why Dimitri’s lips curled into a sardonic smile. This Goddess literally watched from above. She would not reach down Her hand, and Dimitri could not reach up to grasp It if She did.

The Cathedral started ringing with the bells. The bells struck eight. Worshippers were being herded away. Dimitri had nodded to a priestess who had come to guide him away, and asked to be left alone for a few more minutes, so when he heard footsteps approach him, he almost snapped at her to go away. But instead it was Seteth. It was good that Dimitri caught himself.

The Viceroy… He was a man Dimitri met yesterday. Unlike the Archbishop, he did not have a presence that announced itself. But once you had spotted him, he was _there_ , the new locus in the space he held. The center of gravity. Everything in the room became precise.

The reflection of the Goddess sprawled across the floor on the Cathedral. The Prince watched the Viceroy walk across it as he made his way to Dimitri. It seemed oddly blasphemous to walk across her visage. Behind Seteth, the main doors to the Cathedral were swinging closed slowly. Still a snow-laced breath of wind snuck in from the Goddess Tower entrance, depositing a powder of sparkling flakes around Dimitri’s boots. 

The Viceroy gave the prince a slow and deep bow, the tips of his black fur cloak descending onto the floor as he did. His green eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “What do you think?” he said. “I am pleased to see you’ve come to pay Her your respects.”

It went through Dimitri’s mind like a flash — Parvati, bowing her head, sounding so tired when she had said, _“just…pay her my respects…”_

Dimitri returned his gaze to the glass Goddess. He said, “She’s beautiful. It’s too bad She stays so far away.”

Seteth looked at him. “Meaning?”

Dimitri let the question hang in the air. Then he said, “Tell me, Viceroy, do you know why we are called the Blue Lions?”

The Viceroy raised his brows. The priestess who had first come to Dimitri was again coming their way. Seteth dismissed her with a shake of his head.

“You know the legends, I expect?” said Dimitri. “Loog the King of Lions, Pan the Tactician, Kyphon the Faithful Friend… In the War of the Eagle and the Lion, they emerged victorious in the Tailtean Plains. That’s how we got our independence from the Empire.”

The Viceroy nodded. 

“But why the lion?” asked Dimitri. “Faerghus has never seen lions. They’re Almyran. We have white tigers…but it’s too cold in Faerghus for lions. So why was Loog called King of Lions?” He pulled his Blue Lions cloak tighter around him. It was a white reversible fur cloak, thick enough to be a blanket, with the blue insignia of the lion on its back.

The Viceroy looked upon the Goddess tumbled across the Cathedral floor with a curious smile. He said quietly, “‘Lion’ was a mistake.”

Dimitri looked at him. “What?”

Seteth said, “‘Lion’ is a mistranslation.” He put a hand on his chin. "No, not even so. What it should be is Loog King Olayen, _olayen_ meaning _wolf_. But it was _misheard_. You know the book, _Loog and the Maiden of the Wind_? I believe it was that book that popularized it that way, hence…” The Viceroy blinked as he noticed what Prince Dimitri was wearing. “The evidence remains on the traditional sigil. The Blue Lion on the white background — should be a blue _wolf_ on a field of snow.”

Dimitri looked at Seteth with a shocked. A door somewhere closed with an oil-hungry squeal. Then Dimitri gave a dark laugh. “So even the lion on my back…is a lie on my back.”

“Even?” Seteth blinked. “What bothers you, Prince Dimitri? I am the Viceroy after all. If there is any way I may guide you, please do not hesitate. Ask anything at all.”

“Anything?” said Dimitri.

They were alone now. Their voices unfurled across the floor, swept into vacant hallways and murmured in corners like ghosts.

“Very well then. Since you have given me an answer, I’ll give you one,” said Dimitri. He turned to face the Viceroy. “Does the truth matter, Seteth?”

“Of course it does. How could it not?”

“Then help me understand how the truth matters. The day my father died, I saw the people who had done it. They were not brown of Duscur. I told everyone. Nobody listened.” He grimaced. “No…instead, they started creating a story. They fed lies to each other. And they _liked_ their story, and they _liked_ feeding on the lies. They believed the lie so much, they proceeded in massacring an entire people.”

“The Tragedy of Duscur…” said Seteth.

Dimitri nodded. “Please forgive me... I'm afraid my story has not been a pleasant one... I do hope that doesn't color your view of me, but I understand if that can't be helped.”

Seteth shook his head. “No need for forgiveness. The Goddess has given you a difficult hand. She’s given you a difficult life. I can understand that such a string of horrendous events might leave you shaken and questioning… Then what I need to know from you, so I may assist, is: do you believe in the Goddess?”

“I do not question the Goddess’s existence. I question the Goddess _in_ existence. How could She be this way?”

Seteth shook his head. “That is not what I asked. Do you have faith in the fact that the Goddess will Save you?”

The moon had moved, its light no longer behind the Goddess. As it moved down her body, it left the Goddess in newfound darkness, headless.

Dimitri smirked. “What my people did was monstrous. And I? I was useless. In then end, I have the truth, and it is _I_ left with questions: who truly killed my mother and father? Meanwhile, they have the lie and they sleep at night. So tell me, Viceroy, what should I think of the Goddess?”

Parvati’s eyes smoldered when she’d uttered the challenge still haunting him. _“The truth doesn’t matter. Prove me otherwise!”_ Dimitri had been falling since the moment he had heard it. There was one reason he came to the Officer’s Academy. Just one. He came here for revenge. Andt, one day, he would have it.

However, if truth didn’t matter, what was revenge? Without truth, revenge wasn’t justice. Revenge was self-gratification. It was the next extension of violence.

Dimitri was falling into dark thoughts. If the truth didn’t matter, and if revenge didn’t matter…then what was he doing here?

Then the Viceroy said, “The truth does matter, Prince Dimitri. But sometimes, you have to make it matter.”

Dimitri’s eyes widened. “ _Make_ it matter?”

The moon, sinking out of view from the ceiling’s rectangular window, shot its last rays in an angle that cast a glow upon the Viceroy and lit his face. Seteth nodded.

Dimitri considered this. He could feel those dark thoughts lifting. He would claim his future. He would claim revenge. He will bring light to the truth, and he would bring the world justice.

He wasn’t going to let the truth fall into the dark.

He looked at the Viceroy again Dimitri remembered something that he already knew. He wanted to say, _Perhaps it is not the Goddess who saves people. People save people, Seteth._

But he didn’t think the Viceroy would appreciate it, so instead, he said, “Very well.” He flipped on his heel and started heading out, without so much as a glance at the Goddess.

The Viceroy was surprised by the abruptness. Seteth called after him, “Where are you going?”

“I have to pay someone a visit!”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this piece! I’m especially proud of this scene and am exhilarated by what’s been coming out in revision. I have written 28 chapters already for The Lion and the Lotus, and it was only in revision that I discovered this darker Dimitri is taking the stage. If you're looking for power plays and intrigue, he’ll debut next Sunday in [The Lion and the Lotus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672283/chapters/67717684), so come get caught up quick!


End file.
